1. The Modern Civil Rights Movement
NOTES

2. The Modern Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)
II.
The Modern Civil Rights Movement ( ) A.
Because of the failure of Reconstruction, the whites in power in the south were able to keep African-Americans down politically, socially and economically. In the one-hundred years after the Civil War, nothing had really changed and political and cultural institutions were stacked against African-Americans, preventing any attempts to change.

3. B.
But some things changed during the world wars. 1.
During World War I and World War II, job opportunities in Northern cities caused a mass-migration of African-Americans to northern cities.

4. a.
These opportunities were created by the increased production need for the war efforts and they were opened for African-Americans because so many white men had to leave their jobs to fight the wars.

5. b.
For those who were able to move north, the move promised economic advancement and better treatment. While things were better in the north, African-Americans still faced fierce discrimination and were not offered the same opportunities as whites. Competition for jobs fueled racism.

6. The racial segregation and poverty
experienced by African Americans in the
South during the 1920sled them to
move to the North in great numbers to find factory jobs
join with whites in strong national movements to protest unjust laws
evolve their own strong labor movement
support Federal programs that gave them their own farmland

7. move to the North in great numbers to find factory jobs

8. 2.
World War II ( ) helped spark demand for change. One-million African-Americans served in the armed forces—mostly in non-combat capacities (the service was segregated)—as the U.S. fought against fascist regimes in Italy and Germany. When the servicemen returned home, they were determined to fight for freedom and equality.

9. C.
During this one-hundred year span, segregation was the law of the land. 1.
Jim Crow laws separated blacks and whites in every aspect of life. When segregation was challenged in the Supreme Court in the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896, the Court ruled that segregation was legal if facilities were “separate but equal.”

10. Which provided the legal basis for racial
segregation in the late 19th century
United States?
Supreme Court decisions that excluded blacks from voting
adoption of laws by the United States Congress
passage of “Jim Crow” laws by state legislatures
laws in northern states that prevented blacks from working in factories

11. passage of “Jim Crow” laws by
state legislatures

12. The decision of the Supreme Court in the
1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case is
important because it
A. upheld the legality of sharecropping
B. denounced the violence of the Ku Klux Klan
C. approved separate but equal facilities for black Americans
D. declared slavery to be illegal

13. C.
approved separate but equal
facilities for black Americans

14. In the South, Jim Crow laws passed
during the late 19th century were
designed to
make sure that the 14th Amendment would be enforced
provide employment opportunities for the newly freed African Americans
create separate societies for whites and African Americans
guarantee civil rights for African Americans

15. create separate societies for whites
and African Americans

16. 2.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), formed in 1909 to challenge segregation in the court system.

17. 3.
Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) a.
Linda Brown, an eight year old, was denied admission to an all-white elementary school four blocks from her house. She was told she had to attend the nearest all-black school, twenty-one blocks away. Her parents sued and the case reached the Supreme Court.

18. b.
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court unanimously stuck down segregation because it was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Segregation was now unconstitutional and, therefore, illegal.

19. The Fourteenth Amendment is important
because, in addition to awarding
Citizenship to former slaves, it
A. guarantees women the right to vote
B. abolishes the poll tax
C. guarantees equal protection under the law
D. provides protection against illegal search and seizure

20. guarantees equal protection
under the law

21. In the case of Brown v. Board of
Education (1954), the Supreme Court
ruling stated that segregated public
schools
A. provided an appropriate education to students
B. must be made equal to all other schools
C. must comply with Federal standards
D. provided an unequal education

22. provided an unequal education

23. c.
Making segregation illegal was one thing, enforcing it was another. While some communities desegregated schools without any major problems, there were many places where people fought it.

24. d.
Resistance to desegregation caused the Supreme Court to make a second ruling on the Brown case in 1955, referred to as Brown II. It ordered the integration of public school to be implemented “with all deliberate speed.”

25. In the case of Brown v. Board of
Education (1954), the United States
Supreme Court decided that
A. separate educational facilities are inherently unconstitutional
B. busing of children to overcome segregation is constitutional
the use of civil disobedience to achieve legal rights is constitutional
closing public schools to avoid integration is unconstitutional

26. separate educational facilities are inherently unconstitutional

27. e.
In 1957, nine African-American students (called the “Little Rock Nine”) were kept from attending Central High School by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, who ordered the National Guard to keep the students out

28. 1)
A federal judge ordered the school to admit the students. The NAACP arranged to escort the students to school, but could not reach one of them, Elizabeth Eckford, who set off to school alone. Images of the abusive crowds Eckford faced helped put a human face on the issue.

29. “[The Arkansas national guardsmen] glared at me with a mean look and I was very frightened and didn’t know what to do. I turned around and the crowd came toward me. They moved closer and closer. Somebody started yelling ‘Lynch her! Lynch her!’ I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the mob – someone who maybe would help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat at me.”
- Elizabeth Eckford

30. 2)
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who tried to stay out of the issue, was compelled to act. The National Guard was put under federal control and ordered troops to escort the students to class.

31. 3)
Despite daily escorts to class, the Little Rock Nine, like others fighting segregation, faced harassment. Organizations like the KKK regained strength, fueled by the issue.

32. 4)
Congress passed the first civil rights act since Reconstruction as a result of all the tension. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 gave the U.S. attorney general greater power over school segregation and federal courts jurisdiction over violations of voting rights cases.

33. The Montgomery Bus Boycott4.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott a.
In December of 1955, the NAACP took on segregation in the public transit system in Montgomery, Alabama. In the South, African-Americans were required by law to sit in the “colored” section of the bus. Blacks were also expected to give up their seats to white people if the bus got full.

34. b.
The African-American communities were beginning to organize well-thought out ways to challenge the injustices black people faced. Many of the leaders were ministers, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As the elected leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association, King sought to bring attention to segregation through peaceful protests and civil disobedience.

35. 1)
King was greatly influenced by Mohandas K. Gandhi’s approach to gaining independence for India from the British.

36. 2)
Protests were designed to get news coverage to bring the issue to the attention to the whole country.

37. 3)
Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey an unjust law. When practicing this protest method, a protester gets arrested in order to bring attention to the problem.

38. Which action is the best example of civil disobedience?
A. A man is angry because the city has increased local bus fares. He forces his way onto a bus, refusing to pay the higher rate.
High school students are upset because school authorities are maintaining an unpopular grading system. The students begin to riot in the school cafeteria.
A group of parents opposes the closing of a city-supported recreation center; the parents organize a petition drive that protests the closing.
A woman refuses to pay her Federal income taxes in protest against increased military spending, even though she realizes her action is illegal.

39. D. A woman refuses to pay her Federal income
taxes in protest against increased military
spending, even though she realizes her
action is illegal.

40. c.
Rosa Parks—an NAACP secretary and seamstress—and three other African-Americans were told by the bus driver to surrender their seats to whites. Parks refused and was arrested.

41. d.
In response to Park’s arrest, African-American leaders—many of whom were ministers like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—organized a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. To make the boycott work, it took a considerable amount of organization, including arranging carpools to get people to and from work.

42. “During the rush hours the sidewalks were crowded with laborers and domestic workers, many of them well past middle age, trudging patiently to their jobs and home again, sometimes as much as twelve miles. They knew why they walked, and the knowledge was evident in the way they carried themselves. And as I watched them I knew that there is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

43. d.
The boycott lasted 381 days. In 1956, due to the attention the boycott brought to the issue, the Supreme Court outlawed bus segregation.

44. d.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was remarkable because it showed how well leaders had organized the African-American community. The protests remained peaceful, even after King’s house was bombed.

45. Which action would be most in accord
with the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.?
A. Underpaid workers sabotage the machinery at their factory
B. A minority workers assaults a bigot
An 18-year-old pacifist accepts a jail term rather that register for military service
Radical leaders advocate black separation if their group's demands are not met

46. C. An 18-year-old pacifist accepts a jail term rather that register
for military service

47. When Martin Luther King, Jr., said “I
have a dream,” he was expressing his
hope that
blacks would be willing to give up social equality in exchange for economic opportunity
many aspects of economic, political, and social life would be dominated by blacks
part of the United States would be set aside as a home for a black nation
blacks and whites could work and live together in harmony

48. D. D.
blacks and whites could work
and live together in harmony

49. “We will match your capacity to inflict
suffering with our capacity to endure
suffering...We will not hate you, but we
cannot obey your unjust laws...”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This quotation most strongly advocates
segregation
anarchy
prohibition
civil disobedience

50. D.
civil disobedience